We wish to express our thanks to Philip Larkin and Bob Smith who have kindly allowed us to use the letters they received from Barbara, which form a major part of the third section of this book. We are deeply grateful for their help and encouragement in so many ways.

Our thanks are also due to Henry Harvey and to Elsie Harvey for permission to use their letters from Barbara, and we are very grateful indeed to the former for his meticulous annotations which helped us to keep straight the chronology of the letters and the geographical whereabouts of the recipients. We would also like to thank Richard Roberts, who so kindly sent us Barbara’s letters to him as well as the photograph which we wished to include in this volume.

We are greatly indebted to Tim Rogers and Colin Harris of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, for their friendly help and efficiency. Our grateful thanks are also due to Robert Liddell for valuable information and comments; to Honor Ellidge (Wyatt) for her help and support; to Sylvia James and Molly Marshall for a great deal of practical help that was quite invaluable; and to Tom Holt for his help in the preparation of the manuscript and for giving us the title for the book.

We are very conscious of the stimulus we have received from the many admirers and students of Barbara’s work, especially visitors from the United States, who convinced us of the need for this book.

Finally, we would like to thank especially Alan Maclean and James Wright for Macmillan and Paul De Angelis of Dutton, whose advice and friendship Barbara so greatly valued in her lifetime, and who have, by their help and enthusiasm, made this book possible.